CHILDREN said prayers for a man who was found hanging near their school yesterday morning.

CHILDREN said prayers for a man who was found hanging near their school yesterday morning.

High Street Primary School pupils were marshalled into the building by police and teachers to ensure they were kept from seeing the distressing sight of the suspected suicide victim, who killed himself in the early hours.

Police were called to Winsford Cross Shopping Centre shortly after 6am. They found the body of the 54-year-old local man hanging by the neck from the railings above the subway opposite the Kesaan Restaurant.

It appears that he leapt to his death from the road above the subway.

Police cordoned off the area and officers remained on site until after 9am to keep passers-by from the scene.

A police spokesman said there were no suspicious circumstances and added: 'We do know the identity of the man, who was a 54-year-old Winsford resident, but we are still waiting to contact his relatives before we release his name.

'It took place close to a school and police cordoned off the area to prevent distress to the children.' High Street Primary headteacher Brian O'Connor said: 'We opened the school early so the children could come straight in and the police were very eff icient.

'I spoke to the children in the morning assembly and told them there had been an incident in the subway in which a man had died. Then we said a prayer for him.'

Sociologist Ellis Cashmere believes the 'very public manner' in which the man killed himself could be significant.

He said: 'Suicide is often a very private ritual, but this man has chosen to do it in a very public spot.

'It could be that he is making a statement to another person, and that does not necessarily mean someone he had a relationship with. It is also perhaps significant that he chose such a public spot, where there would be a chance he could be discovered and saved.'

* Yesterday's incident was the second suicide within five days in Winsford. A 22-year-old man was found hanging from a tree in Blue Bell Woods early on Thursday evening.